College basketball AP Top 25: Purdue, Alabama rise after signature wins
For the second consecutive week, there is a new No. 1 team in the college basketball AP Top 25. And this time, it’s a historic day for the No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers.
Purdue, now sitting at 8-0 after three-straight wins over Omaha, Florida State and Iowa, has never before been ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll. That changed on Monday, when the Boilermakers took the top spot from Duke, which lost in rather surprising fashion to Ohio State.
Duke had claimed the No. 1 spot last week after a win over Gonzaga, improving the Blue Devils’ record to 7-0. Duke only played one game this past week, an away contest at Ohio State, but Mike Krzyzewski’s team managed to blow a 43-30 first-half lead and lose to the previously-unranked Buckeyes. In the process, the Blue Devils passed on the No. 1 spot to Purdue, and they fell down to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll. Meanwhile, Ohio State managed to climb up the poll itself, earning a No. 21 distinction.
As for Gonzaga — the AP No. 1 team through the first two weeks — the past week did not quite go as planned. The Bulldogs fell from No. 1 to No. 3 last week, after a narrow loss to Duke, and Gonzaga lost another unexpected game last weekend to Alabama. Led by Nate Oats, the 7-1 Crimson Tide bounced back from a Nov. 25 loss to Rick Pitino’s Iona Gaels in a big way, beating Gonzaga 91-82 — and amassing a 51-35 first-half lead — behind Jaden Shackelford’s 28-point performance. Shackelford went six-of-eight from deep and helped Alabama to climb back up in the AP Top 25 poll. Previously ranked at No. 16, the Crimson Tide have since moved back up to No. 9; Gonzaga, meanwhile, fell to No. 5.
The defending national champion Baylor Bears have quietly taken care of business thus far, and Scott Drew now sits comfortably at 8-0 after thumping Arkansas-Pine Bluff 99-54. From here, though, things could get difficult for Baylor, which slotted in at No. 2 in the AP top 25 poll, as the Bears face No. 6 Villanova on Dec. 12.
With conference play roughly three weeks away, here’s a look at the Week 5, updated AP top 25 poll, headlined by the Purdue Boilermakers.
College basketball Week 5 AP Top 25 released
- Purdue (8-0)
- Baylor (8-0)
- Duke (7-1)
- UCLA (8-1)
- Gonzaga (7-2)
- Villanova (6-2)
- Texas (6-1)
- Kansas (6-1)
- Alabama (7-1)
- Kentucky (6-1)
- Arizona (7-0)
- Arkansas (8-0)
- Tennessee (6-1)
- Houston (7-1)
- UConn (8-1)
- USC (8-0)
- Iowa State (8-0)
- Auburn (7-1)
- Michigan State (7-2)
- Florida (6-1)
- Ohio State (6-2)
- Wisconsin (7-1)
- Seton Hall (7-1)
- BYU (7-1)
- LSU (8-0)
Others receiving votes: Colorado State, Xavier, Illinois, North Carolina, St. Bonaventure, Oklahoma, Memphis, Iowa, Michigan, San Francisco, Loyola Chicago, Indiana, Texas Tech